(AGENPARL) – Fri 22 August 2025 A weekly compendium of media reports on science and technology achievements
at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Though the Laboratory reviews
items for overall accuracy, the reporting organizations are responsible for
the content in the links below.
LLNL Report, Aug. 22, 2025
A view from NIF’s Target Bay of some of the final optics assemblies
surrounding the Target Chamber, the site of NIF’s inertial confinement
fusion experiments. (Photo: Jason Laurea)
Giving fusion a boost
AI is giving a huge efficiency boost to one of the biggest nuclear fusion
facilities in the world — but perhaps not in the way you think.
In research published today in Science, scientists at Lawrence Livermore
National Laboratory report how its newly developed deep learning model
accurately predicted the results of a 2022 fusion experiment at the National
Ignition Facility (NIF). The model, which assigned 74% probability for
ignition in that experiment, outperforms traditional supercomputing methods
by covering more parameters with greater precision.
“What we’re excited about with this model is the ability to explicitly
make choices for future experiments that maximize our probability of success
each time,” study co-author Kelli Humbird told Gizmodo during a video call.
Even a facility as large and well-established as the NIF can only “do a
couple dozen of these ignition attempts per year — so really not very many
at all, given how much territory we have to cover,” added Humbird, who
leads the Cognitive Simulation Group at NIF’s Inertial Confinement Fusion
Program.
Read More
By front-loading the intensive computation work on El Capitan, the team made
it possible to generate rapid predictions in seconds — during an actual
tsunami.
Tsunami forecasting in seconds
https://interestingengineering.com/science/us-tsunami-forecasting-system
Scientists have developed a real-time tsunami forecasting system to improve
early warning capabilities for coastal areas near earthquake zones.
This advanced system was developed by researchers at Lawrence Livermore
National Laboratory (LLNL) and is powered by El Capitan, the fastest
supercomputer in the world.
El Capitan has a theoretical peak performance of 2.79 quintillion
calculations per second, enabling accurate and timely predictions of
potential tsunami events.
Scientists revealed that the project used more than 43,500 AMD Instinct
MI300A Accelerated Processing Units (APUs) to solve extreme-scale
acoustic-gravity wave propagation problems, producing a rich dataset that
enables real-time tsunami forecasting on much smaller systems.
The research team harnessed the machine’s full computing power in a
one-time, offline precomputation step, prior to the system’s transition to
classified national-security work. The goal: to generate an immense library
of physics-based simulations, linking earthquake-induced seafloor motion to
resulting tsunami waves, according to details released by LLNL.
Read More
https://interestingengineering.com/science/us-tsunami-forecasting-system
LLNL researchers have developed “smart” windows with vertically aligned
carbon nanotubes that can modulate the transmission of near-infrared light.
(Image: Jeremy Gardner/LLNL)
A tubular way to cut A/C costs
https://www..msn.com/en-us/news/technology/carbon-nanotube-smart-windows-offer-energy-savings-by-modulating-near-infrared-light-transmission/ar-AA1KKpZz
Half of the sun’s radiant energy falls outside of the visible spectrum. On a
cold day, this extra infrared light provides additional warmth to residential
and commercial buildings. On a warm day, it leads to unwanted heating that
must be dealt with through energy-intensive climate control methods such as
air-conditioning.
Visibly transparent “smart windows” that can modulate the transmission of
near-infrared light offer one potential cost- and energy-saving measure for
modern infrastructure.
To work toward solving this technological challenge, a multidisciplinary team
of researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) developed a
new type of electrically controlled, near-infrared smart window that can cut
near-infrared light transmission by almost 50%. Their secret ingredient?
Vertically aligned carbon nanotubes — tiny, tube-shaped structures made
from carbon atoms that are thousands of times thinner than a human hair. The
research was published in Nano Letters.
In these smart windows, the carbon nanotubes are grown so they stand upright
on the glass, like a microscopic forest.
Read More
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/carbon-nanotube-smart-windows-offer-energy-savings-by-modulating-near-infrared-light-transmission/ar-AA1KKpZz
During exploration drilling at the Halleck Creek Rare Earth project,
geologists conduct field surface research. (Photo: Dane Rhys/American Rare
Earths)
Biomining for oxides

American Rare Earths produces first Wyoming oxides

Ore from American Rare Earths’ Halleck Creek project in southeast Wyoming
has for the first time been made into light and heavy rare earth oxide
concentrates for a Department of Defense-linked agency.
A research group assayed the concentrates to about 96.4% light rare earth
oxides and 97.1% heavy rare earth oxides from 840 kg of ore composited from
about 36 drill holes across the project, the company said Friday. These
oxides are used in the production of permanent magnets.
“These results provide a very meaningful third-party validation that light
and heavy rare earths oxides can be produced from the Halleck Creek allanite
hosted ore body,” interim CEO Joe Evers said in a release.
The oxide work was conducted by researchers from the University of Kentucky,
who worked with the Lawrence Livermore National Lab and Penn State
University, part of the larger Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency on
the “SynBREE” program. It’s focused on synthetic biology for biomining
rare earth elements.
Read More

American Rare Earths produces first Wyoming oxides

Technology transfer at LLNL is facilitated by the Innovation and Partnerships
Office (IPO), which releases the Lab’s Technology Transfer report annually.
Partnerships propel tech
Department of Energy (DOE) national laboratories, like Lawrence Livermore
(LLNL), offer unique opportunities to collaborate on and license scientific
breakthroughs with market potential.
In its Fiscal Year 2024 (FY24) Technology Transfer Annual Report, LLNL
highlights how industry partnerships accelerate innovation and deliver
real-world impact.
In FY24, LLNL reported 201 total copyrights, filed 134 U.S. patents and
recorded 119 new invention disclosures — illustrating the Laboratory’s
pipeline of cutting-edge technologies, available for partnership, stemming
from its mission-based research. Of the 13 new Cooperative Research &
Development Agreements (CRADAs), 10 were with small businesses. Overall,
LLNL’s 59 active CRADAs in FY24 brought in $7.4 million of partner funds for
collaborative research efforts with industry in a variety of areas.
One of the standout FY24 success stories: LLNL’s collaboration with BridgeBio
Oncology Therapeutics. Leveraging LLNL’s supercomputing and AI platforms, the
partnership advanced two first-in-class cancer drug candidates to Phase I
clinical trials — a first for a DOE national laboratory and a testament to
the impact of public-private collaboration.
Read More
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provides solutions to our nation’s most important national security
challenges through innovative science, engineering and technology. Lawrence
Livermore National Laboratory is managed by Lawrence Livermore National
Security, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security
Administration.
Read previous Lab Report articles online https://www.llnl.gov/news/lab-report
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